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Review
. 2020 Sep;40(5):1715-1753.
doi: 10.1002/med.21668. Epub 2020 Mar 13.

Drug discovery technologies: Caenorhabditis elegans as a model for anthelmintic therapeutics

Daniel Sepúlveda-Crespo  1 , Rosa M Reguera  1 , Francisco Rojo-Vázquez  2   3 , Rafael Balaña-Fouce  1 , María Martínez-Valladares  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Drug discovery technologies: Caenorhabditis elegans as a model for anthelmintic therapeutics

Daniel Sepúlveda-Crespo et al. Med Res Rev. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Helminthiasis is one of the gravest problems worldwide. There is a growing concern on less available anthelmintics and the emergence of resistance creating a major threat to human and livestock health resources. Novel and broad-spectrum anthelmintics are urgently needed. The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans could address this issue through automated high-throughput technologies for the screening of large chemical libraries. This review discusses the strong advantages and limitations for using C elegans as a screening method for anthelmintic drug discovery. C elegans is the best model available for the validation of novel effective drugs in treating most, if not all, helminth infections, and for the elucidation the mode of action of anthelmintic candidates. This review also focuses on available technologies in the discovery of anthelmintics published over the last 15 years with particular attention to high-throughput technologies over conventional screens. On the other hand, this review highlights how combinatorial and nanomedicine strategies could prolong the use of anthelmintics and control resistance problems.

Keywords: Caenorhabditis elegans; anthelmintic drug discovery; anthelmintic resistance; helminths; high-throughput screening; technologies.

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